Editing Matins (section)

====''Matins''====
The word ''matins'' is derived from the [[Latin]] adjective {{Lang|la|matutinus}}, meaning 'of or belonging to the morning'.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%2328254 Lewis and Short, ''Latin Dictionary'']</ref> It was at first applied to the psalms recited at dawn, but later became attached to the prayer originally offered, according to the fourth-century ''[[Apostolic Constitutions]]'', at cockcrow<ref>"Offer up your prayers in the morning, at the third hour, the sixth, the ninth, the evening, and at cock-crowing" ([http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-07/anf07-49.htm#P7253_2430086 Constitutions of the Holy Apostles] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060807084821/http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-07/anf07-49.htm#P7253_2430086 |date=2006-08-07 }}, VIII, iv, 34)</ref> and, according to the sixth-century ''Rule of Saint Benedict'', at could be calculated to be the eighth hour of the night (the hour that began at about 2 a.m.).<ref name=Doyle8>[https://www.ewtn.com/library/priests/benrule.htm#Chapter%208%20-%20Divine%20Office%20at%20Night Rule of Saint Benedict, 8]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=e4lKAwAAQBAJ&q=oscillated Delatte, ''Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict'' (Wipf and Stock 1922), p. 141]</ref>

Between the vigil office and the dawn office in the long winter nights there was an interval, which "should be spent in study by those [monks] who need a better knowledge of the Psalter or the lessons"; in the summer nights the interval was short, only enough for the monks to "go out for the necessities of nature".<ref>[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/50040/50040-h/50040-h.html#chapter-8-nl-on-the-divine-office-during-the-night Rule of Saint Benedict, 8]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=e4lKAwAAQBAJ&q=oscillatedDelatte Paul Delatte, ''Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict'' (Wipf and Stock 1922), p. 157]</ref> The vigil office was also shortened in the summer months by replacing readings with a passage of scripture recited by heart, but keeping the same number of psalms. Both in summer and in winter the vigil office was longer than on other days, with more reading and the recitation of canticles in addition to the psalms.<ref>Rule of Saint Benedict, 10−11</ref>

Outside monasteries few rose at night to pray. The canonical hour of the vigil was said in the morning, followed immediately by lauds, and the name of "matins" became attached to the lengthier part of what was recited at that time of the day, while the name of "lauds", a name originally describing only the three Psalms 148−150 recited every day at the end of the dawn office (until excised in the 1911 [[reform of the Roman Breviary by Pope Pius X]]; see [[Lauds]]), was applied to the whole of that office, substituting for the lost name of "matins" or variants such as ''laudes matutinae'' (morning praises) and ''matutini hymni'' (morning hymns). An early instance of the application of the named "matins" to the vigil office is that of the [[Council of Tours 567|Council of Tours in 567]], which spoke of ''ad matutinum sex antiphonae''.<ref name=CE1911>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10050a.htm Fernand Cabrol, "Matins" in ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'', vol. 10 (New York 1911)]; {{CE1913|wstitle=Matins|inline=1|last=Cabrol|first=Fernand|volume=10|year=1911}}</ref>

The ''Rule of Saint Benedict'' clearly distinguished matins as the nighttime hour, to which he applied [[Psalm 119|Psalm 118/119]]:62, "At midnight I rise to praise you, because of your righteous rules".<ref>[https://www.biblestudytools.com/psalms/119-62-compare.html Psalm 119:62]</ref><ref>Rule of Saint Benedict, 16</ref>

The word ''vigil'' also took on a different meaning: not only a prayerful night watch before a religious feast, but the day before a feast.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20190212130740/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/vigil Oxford English Dictionaries]</ref><ref>[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vigil Merriam-Webster]</ref>